Don’t deceive yourself. A Fox sees a jackdaw waiting for food from a tree with early fruit on it. The Fox tells the daw it is waiting in vain.
Don’t deceive yourself.
Townsend version
A half-famished jackdaw seated himself on a fig-tree, which had produced some fruit entirely out of season, and waited in the hope that the figs would ripen. A Fox seeing him sitting so long and learning the reason of his doing so, said to him, “You are indeed, sir, sadly deceiving yourself; you are indulging a hope strong enough to cheat you, but which will never reward you with enjoyment.”
Monedula Esuriens et Vulpes
Monedula esuriens in ficu dormitabat. In qua grossos nondum maturos cum reperisset, ibi dum maturescerent exspectabat. Sed vulpes, eam illic immorantem conspicata reique causa intellecta, “Amica, falleris,” ait, “spei tantum inhaerens, quae pascere scit quidem, sed non nutrire.”
Perry #126